Deconstruction: The Kitchen – Your Body Deserves Better - Thursday
Today’s Verse
1 Corinthians 9:27a
I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. (NLT)
Have you ever seen a video of normal people racing an Olympic athlete? This comedic race is pretty fun, and highlights what someone can achieve when their life is devoted to training their body to accomplish something specific. The good news for us average people is that we do not have to be able to compete against a top athlete to take care of our bodies!
I have never been much of an athlete myself and for many years, I allowed that thinking to define what I thought my body was capable of: if you see me running, someone is chasing me; I'm too old to exercise like that; I'm happy with my (obviously unhealthy) self the way I am. The excuses just keep coming!
Then, there were times in my life when I was much more concerned about the number on the scale, what size my jeans were, or my best 5K time, than I was about offering my body as a living sacrifice to the Lord. Those misplaced priorities led to confusion; it was an on-again, off-again pattern of pseudo-discipline and discontentment, as I never felt good enough. While I may have appeared "healthy" on the outside, I was anything but on the inside. In both circumstances, I was allowing what the world was saying to define me. The reality is, God wants me to work on my physical health, just like He wants me to work on my spiritual health—whether I want to believe it or not, they are related.
1 Timothy 4:8 (NLT) says, "Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and the life to come." Physical training is good! But it does not in itself make us look more like Jesus. Physical training to care for our bodies so that we can serve others and look more like Jesus is the goal.
We can't ignore our bodies and we can't worship them. Understanding God's perspective is the only way to find the right balance.
REFLECTION
What does it look like for you to physically take care of your body? Do you need to exercise more, or do you need to add spiritual disciplines to your life as well?